Eric Robert Pearce (born 29 October 1931) is an Indian-born Australian former international field hockey player who represented

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

at four Olympic Games and numerous other international matches. He was born in Jabalpur, India. In his home state of Western Australia, he played as a striker for 19 years.

Playing career

Eric is one of five international-level hockey playing brothers, the others being Cec,

Mel Mel, Mels or MEL may refer to: Biology * Mouse erythroleukemia cell line (MEL) * National Herbarium of Victoria, a herbarium with the Index Herbariorum code MEL People * Mel (given name), the abbreviated version of several given names (including ...

, Gordon and

Julian Julian may refer to: People * Julian (emperor) (331–363), Roman emperor from 361 to 363 * Julian (Rome), referring to the Roman gens Julia, with imperial dynasty offshoots * Saint Julian (disambiguation), several Christian saints * Julian (give ...

. His daughter Colleen Pearce was part of the Australian national hockey team that came third at the 1983 World Cup and fourth at the 1984 Olympics. He is considered to be one of the finest field hockey players to have represented Australia. Following the

partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

, his father Cec and elder brothers Cec and Mel settled in Perth, Western Australia in 1947. His mother Gladys, Eric and his two other brothers followed in the following year. The Anglo-Indian family had intended on settling in Victoria but instead chose to stay in Western Australia.''W.A. Hall of Champions'' inductee booklet. (2006) Published by the Western Australian Institute of Sport p. 86 In the

1956 Olympics 1956 Olympics refers to both: *The 1956 Winter Olympics, which were held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy *The 1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport even ...

in Melbourne he joined with Gordon and Mel in the Australian team. He also competed in

1960 Olympics The 1960 Olympics may refer to: *The 1960 Winter Olympics, which were held in Squaw Valley, United States *The 1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympi ...

in Rome, the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo (Australia's first Olympic hockey medal - bronze) and the

1968 Olympics 1968 Olympics may refer to: * 1968 Summer Olympics, which were held in Mexico City, Mexico * 1968 Winter Olympics The 1968 Winter Olympics, officially known as the X Olympic Winter Games (french: Les Xes Jeux olympiques d'hiver), were a winter ...

in Mexico City (silver). Eric was the Australian team flag-bearer at the 1968 Games. In the 1964 Games he scored Australia's only two goals allowing his team to beat Pakistan (2-1) for the first time. In the 1968 Games he scored all eight goals in one match against Japan (8-1), his biggest tally in an international match. Pearce played in 12 national championships for Western Australia, winning seven, largely due to his own goal scoring abilities. He was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame as a founding member in 1985 - the only hockey player to have been selected. He was inducted into the Western Australian Hall of Champions in 1986.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pearce, Eric 1931 births Living people Australian male field hockey players Anglo-Indian people Australian people of Anglo-Indian descent Australian sportspeople of Indian descent Field hockey players at the 1956 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 1960 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 1964 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 1968 Summer Olympics Indian emigrants to Australia Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Olympic field hockey players for Australia Olympic medalists in field hockey Olympic silver medalists for Australia Olympic bronze medalists for Australia People from Jabalpur Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees Field hockey players from Madhya Pradesh Field hockey players from Perth, Western Australia